


Dancer

by Lottery57



Category: Final Fantasy IV
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, My First Work in This Fandom, Other FF4 characters mentioned but not important, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:34:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25399975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lottery57/pseuds/Lottery57
Summary: How Rydia helped Edge ‘dance‘ his way to being a better person.
Relationships: Edward "Edge" Geraldine/Rydia, Rosa Joanna Farrell/Cecil Harvey
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Dancer

Every time Edge looked at Rydia in battle, she was always dancing.

A dance of magic, lightning in her hands, the essence of the elderly Ramuh, whose age never affected his abundant energy. Streams of electricity would weave around her in fields with every step. One step forward, the sparks gather closer. A flick to the side, and the sparks would jump from the earth. Then she would end the pattern, holding her hands in the air with a sense of finality, having it crash upon whatever creature was unfortunate enough to be the target of the Lady Summoner. The spreading light shone through Rydia – though Edge knew she didn’t the light to be dazzling.

When Rydia commanded blistering cold, her dance was more subdued. It was conducted not with the sheer energy of lightning, but rather with a finesse and delicacy befitting of Shiva. A careful, weighted gesture with her hand, coupled with soft gentle steps. Snow carefully gathered close to Rydia, chilling the very air around her. Icy winds swirled close by, before quickly snapping together, sending ice shards apart.

Once, Rydia had tried to quickly use an Blizzaga spell on Rubicante when he had separated an injured Cecil from the others. Rosa has been attending to some burns Kain had taken – Edge always found him strange and learning about his dubious past didn’t help. Rydia’s quick casting had been able to kill the Archfiend of Fire and save Cecil – though her quick and somewhat imprecise movements had caused the ice shards to spread out in a more wild manner, leading to one getting stuck in her hair. The proceeding escape and stealing of the Falcon meant that she didn’t notice – but Edge certainly did. Beautiful and pristine, two sentiments Edge thought applied to Rydia very much.

Yet, ice was also fragile in its very nature and Edge knew enough about Rydia and her past to know that she was anything but that, most evident when Edge had inevitably done something to earn her ire – such as the one time he’d actually gotten any sort of ‘proper’ glance at Rydia… it’s a memory Edge will cherish and shudder at simultaneously. Either way, there were many times at which Rydia took after the element she detested the most – fire.

Fire was always a tricky topic for Rydia, and Edge empathised with Rydia – after all, both had lost their family partly due to some form of it. Rydia, despite her undoubted mastery of magic would always shy away from fire spells and the beastly Eidolon that represented them. Hence, her dance was always one of caution. For every step she took, there was a slight stutter, as if anticipating the past to repeat. For every sweeping movement she made with her arm, she always seemed to stop the motion somewhat prematurely, scared of the fire bursting into an uncontrollable inferno. When she finally finished her cautious movements, the fire would burst on an enemy in spectacular fashion – but Edge was more than sure she always held back. For her, fire was a force of destruction, one that had to be respected, lest it unleash that destruction upon you.

But even then, Edge would always believe that for all of her glacial beauty and shocking energy, her heart and passion was one of pure fire. When he first met her, she had been the one to stop his admittedly stubborn and deadly desire to seek vengeance by himself. She had been the one to refuse to sit by and let Cecil, Kain and himself fight Zemus by themselves. And to Edge’s dismay, she was always the one to continually reject all of his advances, both subtle and direct, towards her.

It wasn’t until a story session with Rosa revealed to him the hardships that Rydia has been through, as well as the company she had been raised in, that made him realise that a girl from the Feymarch wouldn’t exactly know how to respond to his advances. His title simply didn’t mean anything to her, unlike the countless others he had success with. So, out of respect, Edge decided to simply stop. And, to be fair to Rosa, it did work, as Rydia stopped responding to Edge with outright hostility and instead mild irritation.

This dance with Rydia had many twists and turns, the rhythm constantly changing but now Edge thought he finally had a good grasp on it. Perhaps now that they would finally get somewhere.

Until Edge inevitably did something to earn her ire – it was genuinely an accident! Nevertheless, that didn’t stop Rydia from responding in the best way she could – a Flare spell to the face. If there was a dance to this, Edge didn’t see or notice it – there was burning hot fire in her eyes, followed by burning hot fire in his face.

And another healing session with Rosa.

Still, Edge wasn’t the kind to have two left feet, so the dance continued – after some apologies, to which Rydia was surprisingly accepting of, at least according to him. From this point on, Edge was even more careful around Rydia – with exception to when she was casting magic. It was almost impossible for Edge to tear his eyes off her magical dances, and he was more than sure Rydia was aware of his attention.

The trip to the moon, the moon, was not one that Edge was expecting. After all, who expects to go to an artificial moon made by space fanatics – Edge knows they’re called Lunarians but in his own opinion, Lunarians sounds really pretentious, even more so then his own title, “Great Ninja King of Eblan”.

Plus, space fanatics got a laugh out of Rydia for the first time, which certainly made Edge’s heart do a much different dance than usual.

What didn’t get a laugh out of any of them was meeting FuSoYa, who was waiting for them. Edge found the Lunarian… creepy? It’s was hard for him to say why, but he had a feeling it was related to his magic -FuSoYa cast his magic with no dramatic fanfare or any of Rydia’s movements. One second, he was muttering to himself, the next, their foes where being destroyed with Holy, Flare and Meteor spells. It was very alien to Edge, which made sense for obvious reasons, but he still didn’t like it. Much to Edge’s dismay, he accompanied them back down to Earth, but not before teaching Rydia the ultimate Black Magic spell, Meteor.

That certainly got a rise out of Edge. But in his defence, Meteor was a spell of pure destruction, a spell that according to Cecil, led to one desperate caster being killed – the proclaimed Sage Tellah, who had spent his life mastering magic. And this guy wanted to teach the spell to Rydia, whose age Edge still had trouble fully understanding.

The ensuing argument was… not an argument at all. FuSoYa simply didn’t argue. At all. But he still won. Edge still has no idea how that happened. Seeing FuSoYa cast Meteor was fine. Not for the opposition, of course, who would razed to bits, but FuSoYa evidently had the strength to not die like Tellah, perhaps due to the magical aptitude he had as a Lunarian. Edge didn’t know, and to be quite frank, he didn’t really care.

But Rydia was human. Well, technically a summoner, who had the ability to call incredibly powerful creatures and had been raised by said creatures for the majority of her life, but a human nonetheless. And barely an adult one at that. And this is by the Eidolons’ much different standards of time. So, naturally when Rydia agreed to learn how to cast the spell, Edge was… shocked. Shocked was putting it mildly but if there was a better word, Edge’s vocabulary was failing him. Maybe he shouldn’t have skipped all those lessons…

When Rydia finally mastered the spell, Edge was certainly interested in seeing her cast it, though he’d never ask her to. Nevertheless, one encounter with Bahamut later and his godforsaken Mega Flare and Rydia used her new spell for the first time.

The energy of shooting stars across space. Ripping holes through dimensions. And there was nothing in her eyes. No movement, no expression. Just Rydia. Staring forward at Bahamut, the Eidolon she hoped to obtain, willing the rift to widen, before thousands of meteors showered the dragon. Machines, monsters, his own parents being turned into horrifying abominations, the sheer concept of Zeromus himself, who lived and breathed hatred, none of them compared to the utter horror that was Rydia when she casted Meteor.

There was no energy in her movements, no beauty with how she executed it, no passion and reverence with which she casted the spell. It was simply her, her and the very energy that Meteor consisted of. It would not be right to say that Rydia casted Meteor. Rydia become Meteor.

It was the most horrifying dance Edge had ever seen.

Thankfully, using Meteor wasn’t something Rydia was particularly fond of either, because of the sheer drain it put on her mind and her mana. She only used in the most desperate of situations, all the better for Edge. Still, the few times she used the spell, it was often the deciding factor between survival and death. It was what finally killed Zeromus and stopped his hatred from infecting any other Lunarians – though not before Zeromus had unleashed his own array of cosmic related magic, including the reality- defying Big Bang, the magic- destroying Black Hole, which Rosa had a lot of fun with, and of course, Meteor.

Zeromus only resorted to using that last one when he was heavily injured and unlike FuSoYa and Rydia, he could use it at a moment’s notice. This only added to Edge’s apprehension of the spell – the fact that Rydia, sweet Rydia, was using the same destructive energy as Zeromus. They were two completely different people, yet both could use the same spell.

But now it was all over. Edge was going back in this whale (there’s a phrase he’d never thought he’d say), back to Eblan where he’d undoubtedly have to prepare for his coronation into King.

King. His Majesty. Sounds far too serious for Edge’s taste, but to be fair, most things are too serious for Edge’s taste, given how he addresses almost every situation in life. A witty one liner, with a confident smirk. But recent events has left Edge doing something many in the group questioned whether he could actually do – think. And a week or so long trip from the Lunarians’ artificial moon certainly gave him time to do that. When Edge was young, he did all the things you’d expect a young ninja to do – burning down the curtains, raiding the kitchens, and just generally annoying the Seneschal. Without being seen, of course - what kind of ninja would he be if he got caught?

But that all pales in comparison to what he did for that one royal ball – he gets goosebumps thinking about it. Edge remembers regaling the others with this tale, to which Cecil and Kain reacted with shock, Rydia with her general annoyance for Edge and Rosa… started laughing her head off. Turns out Rosa was quite the prankster in her youth.

Edge had never liked ballroom dancing – having to constantly memorise each step and performing them with ‘regal elegance’ – Edge will hate that phrase for all eternity. Now that he thinks about it, the dancing probably did have its benefits, to improve the movements of a ninja. Still, Edge saw it as a nuisance at the time and quite the time sink. So on that fateful night, he decided to wage war against dancing, in the best way his 15 year old mind could think off.

No one ever did replace all those chandeliers in the ballroom.

But those times are over. He has to, “grow up”, as Rydia keeps telling him.

When the five landed back on Earth, there was of course a celebration at Baron, and of course Edge decided to party in the best way he knew how.

Wine. Lots and lots of wine. It was different this time though – normally Edge just drinks whatever’s available, but this time, he had a drinking buddy in Kain. Yes, Kain.

The guy may have betrayed Cecil twice, commutes numerous atrocities under Golbez’s command and was just a dick in general… but he sure knew his wine. Kinda made Edge wonder how he became an expert.

But the fun couldn’t last forever. Oh, Edge was having the time of his life, in his half drunken state… until… her. Rydia was able to give such devastating looks of disappointment that Edge felt like just melting on the spot. If Rydia said anything, Edge couldn’t remember it. But he’s sure it would have been something important.

What is he doing? It’s always been like this. Edge has heard it all the time, his parents, the Seneschal, his cousin, and Rydia. How do you expect to be King if you don’t grow up? But honestly, Edge isn’t even sure if he should be King. He’s aware that he doesn’t exactly have the qualities a king does – well aware. He knows this - he’s the opposite of Cecil, who’s well on his way to becoming King of Baron. He certainly has the leadership, wisdom, bravery, justice, strength and kindness to be a king.

Edge does not.

When he’d tried to lead his people after Eblan fell, he got them killed. His ‘wise’ idea of trying to fight Rubicante almost got him killed as well. There was no bravery or justice in what he tried to do, merely a desire for vengeance. And strength? Oh, Edge may be strong in the typical sense, but if Kain and Golbez have shown him anything, physical strength means nothing with a weak mind.

And kindness. Looking back on it all, he’s never really been kind to anyone. Not his parents or the Seneschal, with his ungrateful attitude. Not his people, who he saw as a burden.

And most certainly… as Edge hates to admit it… he’s been nothing but a dick to Rydia.

And even despite all this… there’s still one more thing Cecil has that will make him a far more successful King than Edge could ever be. A queen.

The main event of this night, other than the celebration over Zemus being destroyed and the war being over, was Cecil finally getting his head out of his ass, (Cid’s words), and proposing to Rosa. And there was much rejoicing to be had – save for Kain, who looked like his heart had been ripped out, sliced to bits and then spat on. In fact, that was what had lead to Kain joining Edge’s drinking session. Again, the guy was a dick, but even Edge had to sympathise with the pure sadness that was oozing out of Kain’s eyes.

And yet, Edge won’t forget what else there was in his eyes. It was a sense of, acknowledgement, in a way. Acceptance. Kain recognised what was there, and what he could not have. And he accepted it. He didn’t like it, far from it, but he, however reluctantly, accepted it. Maybe… maybe it was time for Edge to do the same. It was never too late to changes. Kain and Golbez both did. He knows it won’t be easy, and far from fun.

But now, now he knows he wants it. Leadership, wisdom, bravery, justice, kindness, and most of all…

The next day, everyone barring Cid, Cecil, Rosa and Kain say their goodbyes – although based on some of the things Kain was spouting yesterday, Edge has a feeling he won’t be staying here for long. Upon returning to Eblan, Edge gets to work. The kingdom, his kingdom, is far from its former glory.

The next year, Edge does nothing but work. Work with his subjects to give them peace of mind, that Eblan will be great once more. A king is nothing after all, if he is blind and deaf to the needs of his people. And although Edge hasn’t exactly made a good first impression – after all, he never does, the people do start to gain confidence in him.

Work with the castle, to rebuild it from what remains. He spends hours carrying materials for each room – bedrooms, dining halls, towers, dungeons, his throne room. It makes Edge wonder what exactly is the point of having all these rooms. But nevertheless, Edge goes along with whatever needs to be done. He even adds his own personal touch – finally replacing those chandeliers when the ballroom is rebuilt!

And perhaps most important of all, he focuses on training, not just himself but the other ninjas as well. The young, the middle aged, the elderly. All of them train in Eblan’s arts with Edge occasionally helping in some of their lessons. While doing so, he notices a few prodigies within each age group.

A young boy with considerable talent over wind, with speed to match it… an honourable man whose abilities over fire are astounding, while maintaining endurance… an elderly ninja that has helped Eblan many times in the past with his lightning… and a talented women who proves her strength with her skill over ice.

They may be all different, but they all are more than what meets the eye… just like Rydia…

Soon though, he forms ‘The Awesome Personal Ninja Guard of The Mighty King Edge.’

No one seemed to like that title so, Eblan Four it is.

And finally, after a little over a year, Edge finally ascends to King. The ceremony was a grand one of course, but also a quiet one. As it happens, Eblan was the first main power to reestablish itself. Even after his coronation, Edge sees no reason to slack off. He has his fun when he gets the opportunity to, but apart from that, he thrusts himself into his work whenever he gets the chance. He sends his Eblan Four to Fabul, Mysidia, Troia and to the Underworld, to gain intel in case of more conflicts. As Eblan has remained a fairly neutral party, no area has any intent to attack it. The same can’t be said for Baron.

From what Edge knows, along with information from the Eblan Four and some logic (another thing Edge has actually developed), areas like Fabul, Damcyan and Eblan, have had relatively little issues with Baron. All three have been attacked by Baron, but as all three have a monarch who was close to Cecil and helped in his fight against Golbez, the public has been largely appeased. Baron helping the restoration of all these places also helped.

For areas like Troia, relations with Baron are far more tense, due to Cecil taking their Crystal and trading it to Golbez. Mysidia seems to be largely divided as well – some are willing to see the changes in Baron, especially after Cecil becoming a paladin. Others still remember the blood shed and the lives that will never be brought back.

And Mist is another contentious area. On one hand, Baron caused the death of all but one summoner living in Mist. On the other hand, that one summoner survived, grew up to become the leader of Mist and caused it to prosper because of Baron’s current king.

It’s a very tricky balancing act and while Edge would love to just slap everyone in the face and remind them that Baron’s current King and Queen saved the entire world, he can’t because they do have a point. After all, Edge’s parents would still be alive if not for Baron.

The real issue is that justice hasn’t been done for the world – they killed Zemus, who was the cause for everything, but no one else really understands that. The next best thing is Golbez, but he’s obviously unreachable. As for Kain… he’s pretty much disappeared off the face of the Earth, so he couldn’t be punished either – and like Golbez, it would be hardly fair to scapegoat him.

For Edge, justice has been done because Zemus is dead, along with the Four Fiends. Unfortunately, he can’t voice that particular opinion. Eblan has remained fairly neutral and it would be best to stay that way. God, Edge hates politics.

It makes his mind melt in ways he didn’t even know was possible. Trying to gauge every area’s reaction if he does or says something. There are times where  
Edge spends hours just thinking about how much preference he can show a certain area. The only conclusion Edge ever reaches is that he has a headache.  
It usually gets to the point where the Seneschal, of all people, has to ask him to stop.

But Edge only stops working whenever he’s worked himself to pure exhaustion.

Until the letter came. Edge would have been quick to dismiss it as any other letter, if it weren’t for the distinct seal on it that depicted Odin. Edge’s first instinct is that it’s a letter from Mist, but it turns out to be from Baron.

Flowery nonsense… more flowery nonsense… Ah, getting somewhere… a wedding?

It seems surprising for Edge that Cecil and Rosa are tying the proverbial knot, so to speak. It’s taken them close to 2 years, although Edge imagines the restoration of Baron was most likely a priority and there was also the matter of Baron having to appease literally the entire world because of Golbez – some Baron ambassadors came to Eblan a few months ago.

But Edge is quick to respond that he’ll attend – he certainly owes Cecil that much at least, for the things he taught Edge. Come a few months and Edge is being escorted on a Baron airship – not just any though, it happens to Edge’s favourite airship, the Falcon.

When Edge boards, he’s not very surprised to see Cid on the deck, barking a number of orders to everyone else on the airship.

“Alright, old man, lay off the workers. It takes at least a week to fly to Eblan, although I remember a week long flight with you feeling as long as two, so they must be doubly exhausted. Besides, if you keep exerting yourself like this, you’ll only get more exhausted, considering you’re pushing your age. What is it again? 57? 74? 89?”

With every increasing outlandish age Edge guesses, Cid only gets more agitated, and the workers significantly more amused at their boss’ souring mood. It’s only when Edge reaches quadruple digits that Cid finally responds.

“Enough! I see you have matured a great deal, haven’t you?”

Edge laughs at this, genuinely laughing for the first time in ages.

“Ah, Cid, sorry, it’s just… it’s just been far too long. It’s good to see you. Really.” Edge replies, with a smirk on his face.

Cid smirks back. “Same to you, kiddo.”

The week or so long trip back to Baron gives the duo the time to reminisce on their journeys and to catch up on all that’s happened over the next two years. Everyone who participated in the Lunarian War (that’s what everyone’s calling the battle against Golbez and Zemus) is attending the wedding, according to Cid – even the twin mages. Of course, Edge isn’t so quickly fooled.

“Everyone, except Kain, you mean.”

“So you knew as well.”

“He told me on that night. The celebration. I had the feeling from some of the things he was spouting that he didn’t intend to stay in Baron for very long.”

“He didn’t stay for long at all. One day, he just left, leaving a note saying that he wanted to surpass his father, and when he did, he would return. It left the two of them in pieces. They’ve been friends since childhood.”

“But love triangles always have a loser, don’t they? Love always does.”

“Not necessarily. You don’t have to be a loser.”

“You’re annoyingly perceptive, you know that?”

That gets a laugh out of Cid before he goes to do… something. Edge doesn’t know what he’s doing, nor does he care, because once again, he’s thinking about Rydia.

Edge recalls that when he first rose to King, the Seneschal would have to break his daydreams about her. Contrary to what the Seneschal thought, Edge never stopped daydreaming about her entirely – he just got a lot better at hiding it.

There’s a fine line and yet a great deal of difference between infatuation and love, and Edge has never been sure which of the two apply to whatever he feels for Rydia. Part of him would love to say it’s the former, if only because it would make it much easier to ‘get over her’, so to speak – seeing as the two never actually engaged in any sort of relationship beyond allies and their friendship.

But part of Edge’s motivation to become a better king, to take more interest in the things around him, is because of the things Rydia told him. And that would mean whatever he feels must go far beyond mere infatuation. Right?

Cid told Edge he’s gotten wiser, but it’s times like these that remind Edge that in actuality, he’s an idiot. A very big idiot.

The week long trip passes fairly quickly however – maybe Cid can manipulate the time airship rides take, and chose to make them long for Edge when they were travelling together because he hated Edge. Edge chuckles at that one - they’ve bonded rather well across this airship ride.

Apparently, everyone is supposed to arrive on this particular day (which must take an inordinate amount of planning, given that everyone lives in different areas, which are different distances away from Baron.), with the soon to wedded couple going to greet them all.

Edge is shown to a room to stay while Cid goes to alert to the arrival of their first guest. Soon after, Edge greets the royal duo. The three share tales of what has happened – Edge has fun telling them about the fact that he finally fixed all the chandeliers in the ballroom when rebuilding the castle, to which Cecil just gives an exasperated sigh. Not so much at Edge though – rather at his soon to be wife who bursts out in laughter again.

Yeah, Cecil’s still a stick in the mud while Rosa has that wild side to her. Good to see some things haven’t changed

Over time, everyone else who travelled with Cecil arrive at Baron. First, the Dwarven Royalty, Luca and Giot who quickly engage themselves in a heated discussion about the development of airships. Next, Yang and his wife, who greet everyone warmly enough.

Ah, and then the twin mages, Palom and Poram, accompanied by the Mysidian Elder. It confuses the heck out of Edge as to why the twins were invited given the fact that they are only 5 - don’t weddings have some sort of minimum age requirement? They remind of Edge of himself and the Seneschal when he was younger, what with Palom jumping on Cecil’s throne and Poram having to drag him away. Good times…

Everyone’s favourite spoony bard is next, who Edge quickly strikes up a conversation with, being ‘the other Edward’. Edge enjoys the look of surprise on Edward’s face when he enlightens has about the effectiveness of spoons as a throwing weapon.

The conversations do eventually reach a bit of a lull now that everyone has been reacquainted with everyone else. Everyone seems content – except for the host and hostess.

“I’m sorry he wouldn’t come.”

“Who?” Cecil asks.

“Kain.”

“So Cid told you…”

“He told me he left. But, to be honest, I was expecting this. He did have a lot to say that night….”

Upon seeing Cecil and Rosa’s questioning looks, he continues. “He did mention the fact that he didn’t intend to stay in Baron for long and he wanted to be away for a while.”

“Wait, do you know where he went then. Why did he go?” Rosa sounds almost hysterical at this point.

Edge sighs. He wants to give them the answer but he knows he can’t. “I’m sorry. I don’t know nowhere he went at all. And as for why he went… it’s not my place to tell. But Kain went because he wanted to. And although I hate the guy, I’m sure when he’s ready, he’ll come back.”

At this, Cecil and Rosa seem a bit more happy. It’s not much, but Edge is glad he could do something. After all, no one should be sad at their wedding.

It’s only now that Edge realises another person who is missing.

And as if it were planned, then… her. Rydia.

There’s a moment of silence when Rydia enters. The tension is palpable - not in the least because Edge is acutely aware of Cecil, Rosa and Cid's gazes being bored into his back. Subtle. Once, Edge may have been enamoured with Rydia because of how she looked - in Edge's defence, she walked around in a diaphanous dress of light green that left... considerably little to a normal person's imagination.

So one can only imagine what little that left to Edge's imagination.

But now Edge was enamoured with her because... she was Rydia. She was the reason Edge finally made the changes to become a better monarch, and a better person in general. Rydia greeted the Baron monarchs - it really did warm Edge's heart to see how the two had sort of role models for Rydia.

"Edge?"

Oh god, he was staring, wasn't he? Edge is afraid to properly look... but there indeed is Rydia, right in front of Edge with a amused expression on her face.

"Hello... Lady Summoner. It's... really good to see you again."

Rydia looks a bit confused, which naturally makes Edge wonder if he's done something wrong.

"Same to you, Majesty." Rydia goes to talk with Edward (the other one), which only leaves Edge feeling more confused as to what he's done.

Why does he always manage to screw things up with her?

Thankfully, the wedding goes off without a hitch - save for the couple themselves, and soon everyone's in tears. It really does make Edge think about his own future. To be honest, he doesn't care if he had a big ceremony like that, although he'd most likely have to have such a ceremony owing to the fact that, well, he's royalty. Yeah, it really sucks to be the king sometimes. Either way, the ceremony would be just a formality for Edge, he just wants… Rydia.

The party afterwards is a certainly quite the joyous event, although there is certainly an air of discomfort during Cid's best man speech - it's quite obvious who should be saying it, but...  
Still, the dancing after is fun, along with the amusing pairings for some people, including Poram and the Mysidian Elder, Palom and Sheila, and Cid and Luca. Edge, for the most part spends his time dancing with however asks him too - which isn't very many at all. Still, Rosa grants him a pity dance.

"You're a surprisingly good dancer, for someone who skipped all their lessons and wrecked their ballroom."

"I did rebuild that room though and caught up on all those lessons. It took me a long time though. My instructor believed I was just born with two left feet."

Rosa laughs at this. "You should have seen Cecil when he was younger. He seemed like he only had one foot at all!"

"Maybe it's an inbuilt thing for all members of royalty."

"Perhaps. I was never a good dancer anyway. But you're not here to listen to me ramble about dancing. She's waiting. Good luck!"

Before Edge can comprehend what she just said, Rosa lightly shoves him across the ballroom. Edge wonders where exactly he's going...

"Ouch!"

... until he runs right into Rydia. Edge likes Rosa. He really does, she has a wild side to her like Edge that makes her not a complete stick in the mud like all the other people Edge has to deal with. Edge normally likes that, he really does. He's not sure if he still likes that now.

"Edge?!"

Oh god, he was staring at Rydia again. Edge gives Rosa the briefest, and the most seething gaze he can possibly muster, which ends up being a rather weak one as his heart isn't in it.

"Hello again, Lady Summoner. We really must stop running into each other like this."

"Hello again, Majesty. Indeed, we should."

Another bit of silence.

"If… if it pleases the Lady Summoner, she may call me Edge."

"Well, in that case, Your Majesty, I insist you call me Rydia."

And just like that, it feels like all the tension that had been contained up until now had been suddenly released, like a stopper in a bottle of wine. Edge starts laughing - a small chuckle at first before it builds up into a grand laugh. Rydia starts laughing as well, her melodic laugh ringing in Edge's ears, and Edge knows he wants nothing more than to keep hearing that laugh.

The two started discussing the past two years. Rydia had assisted with the restoration of Mist as well as visiting the Feymarch to spend some more time with her foster parents (it makes for quite the quirky family, but it's sweet in its own way) - hence why she looked as if she had aged a few years.

"So if you keep going there, does that mean you'll become an old lady?"

Rydia swats his arm for that. "You're lucky I can't use Meteor in here."

"Because you’ll destroy the chandliers?”

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Hey, I fixed all those chandeliers! But it doesn't matter. You could live in the Feymarch forever and you'd still be beautiful."

"Do you ever stop?"

"Not for you, Rydia. Never. You're everything and more."

And for once, it seems as if Edge has said the right thing, as Rydia seems to contemplating what Edge has said.

"Who... who are you?"

Edge laughs at that one. "Why, I'm the Great Ninja King of Eblan. Did you expect anyone else?"

Rydia gives her own melodic laugh. "Well then, Great Ninja King of Eblan. Would you care for a dance?"

And as Rydia sweeps him into her arms, with a smirking Rosa watching the two, Edge knows he'll be dancing with Rydia forever.

**Author's Note:**

> So in the After Years, Edge has changed to be a lot more mature and seems to be a wiser person in general. I’m not a big fan of the After Years (what happened to Rosa?) but that is one particular piece of development that I do really like, so I wanted to give my own personal take on how that happened.


End file.
